Fine Braid Milan Straw Collection

THE CHLOE

The "Chloe" is a hand-shaped crown: a technique learned in Hamburg.

MULTI-COLORED STYLES

The History of the Milan Braid.

"The Milan braid is produced from a special type of wheat that grows where soil conditions contain a high percentage of sand. In the 1800s, it was originally called the ‘Dunstable Twist’, after the region in England which yielded the optimal soil. The weave was also produced in Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Japan and China, but production in these locales dwindled as China became the strongest supplier. By the 1920s, production was essentially limited to China. But in the 1950s, to circumvent the U.S.-placed embargo on Chinese goods, the Chinese braid was sent to Italy, where it was sewn together into ‘hat bodies’, marked ‘made in Italy’, then shipped to the U.S. The general belief is that these hats, shipped from Milan, led U.S. hatters to call these hats ‘My-lans’, hence the name and mispronunciation used today.Contrary to this belief, the Milan got its name much earlier, when Italian imitations of ‘Dunstable Twist’ arrived in Britain in the mid-1800’s. In 1867, the first Chinese versions were imported to Britain, by then referred to as ‘Milan’." - Source: Optimo Hats